Assault, abduction attempt case bound over

By Kelly Dame kdame@mdn.net

Published
2:00 am EDT, Sunday, May 5, 2013

After the victim of an attempted kidnapping testified her attacker had broken into her home and waited for her to return there, then tackled her, restrained her and used a shotgun to threaten her, a Midland County judge found probable cause to send the case to trial.

The suspect in the case, Woodie Carl Lewis, 38, Clinton Township, faces charges of kidnapping, assault with the intent to commit criminal sexual assault, first-degree home invasion, felony firearm and a habitual fourth offender status. The maximum penalty in the case is life in prison.

He appeared before Midland County District Court Judge John H. Hart on Wednesday afternoon for a preliminary hearing.

Midland County Prosecutor Mike Carpenter called the victim in the case, a 29-year-old Midland County woman, to testify. She said Lewis was waiting in her Lee Township home when she arrived there about 10:30 p.m. on April 9. The two had dated at one point, and she later was granted a personal protection order against Lewis.

Once she was inside her home, Lewis tackled her and used pepper spray on her, then used duct tape to bind her hands behind her back. At one point, he removed the duct tape to allow her to clean the pepper spray off, then again bound her.

Lewis was inside the home for about two and a half hours, during which time he carried around the victim’s shotgun which had three shells in the chamber, and told her he had two handguns. He threatened to abduct her and to sexually assault her multiple times with the purpose of impregnating her, she testified.

She said she was able to get away from him and ran to her home’s back door. She screamed for help and he grabbed her, then the pair broke through a porch railing and fell 3 feet off the porch, landing on concrete. She was able to drive away and went to a friend’s home for help.

Lewis was arrested just after noon on April 10 at the Dollar General store at M-20 and Chippewa Road, the Midland County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Attorney Lee Burton, appointed to represent Lewis, asked clarifying questions, including if the victim had ever given his client a key, and if she was ever touched sexually or if Lewis exposed himself to her.

The victim said when they dated, she lived at her current address and he visited her. She never gave him a key.

During the incident, Lewis would occasionally touch her arm or shoulder to move her, but did not attempt to sexually assault her, nor did he remove clothing from either of them and did not expose himself to her.

Midland County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark McNally testified officials found a bedroom window was missing the glass, and a cinder block had been placed beneath it. There were faint smudge marks on the side of the home.

Inside the home, evidence included a backpack that did not belong to the victim, a roll of duct tape, mechanics gloves with duct tape and a spent shotgun casing on a bedroom floor. It did not appear as though the firearm had been fired inside the home, and McNally said he found one shell in the chamber and one in the magazine.

After the testimony, Carpenter motioned for the case to be bound over to circuit court. Burton argued against binding over the kidnapping charge, stating it is predicated on a sexual act, and the victim testified she was not sexually assaulted.

“I think that intent is shown by both actions and deeds, and what is said,” Hart said. “She clearly stated she felt she was going to be raped and murdered.”

Lewis entered a not guilty plea during his circuit court arraignment, which was conducted by Hart. Next the case will be set for a pretrial meeting in the circuit court.